In an economy where attention is expensive, different stands out. Creating something different that’s worth sharing is key to growth. This is A Purple Cow. This is the basis of Seth Godin’s book Purple Cow.

I highly recommend giving the book a read. If nothing else, you might have a remarkable idea.

I hit the snooze button and slept another half an hour, yet again. That’s the third time this week and its Wednesday. I lost count how many times it has been this month.

The result of my love affair with the snooze button is I am now running through my morning routine. It is not therapeutic, and if I believe everything I read about morning routines, I am not destined for “success”.

I know that if I just wake up early and have the kind of morning routine I could write a book about, I will be successful. In fact, I will probably be the next Steve Jobs.

The building of habits and routines is very difficult. This is where “The Power of Habit” proved to be an excellent and thoroughly worthwhile read. In recently finishing “The Power of Habit”, I thought I would share my greatest take away.

“The Power of Habit” discusses a number of scientific and theoretical approaches to changing and creating habits, which as you read the book, you will dive deep into scientific models. But the one concept I found thoroughly enlightening is the concept of the baseline habit, or the habit that if changed, would transform a number of other habits. So lets put this in real terms.

The habit I currently want to change is my morning routine, or improve it. I want to have enough time in the morning to thoroughly enjoy bacon, eggs, coffee, and a shave. My huge issue though is the alarm clock snooze button. I think this is a common problem.

So as I deconstruct what is infringing on my morning routine, I find that it is this alarm clock snooze button. As I found in the book, I have to go further back into my morning issues and now tackle my alarm clock habit, which is hitting the snooze button. After a bit of research I find myself looking at sleep quality. My sleep regimen is now my next stop on the path to morning routine optimization, and when looking at sleep, it is my evening routine. So in order to change the one habit I want, my morning routine, I have to turn the clock back all the way to my evening routine.

Looking at my key take away from “The Power of Habit”, the one habit that will change other habits is my evening routine. The adjustment to my evening routine will allow me to get enough sleep, which then I will be rested, less likely to hit snooze, and therefore wake up on time.

Whether sleep is a habit you think you should improve, or another habit, “The Power of Habit” is a great book to add to your book list. Examples range from P&G getting customers to use Febreeze, to how making your bed in the morning can help give you a productive day.

Whatever your habits, hopefully you will find this book as enlightening as I did.

“Our work will at least have distracted us, it will have provided a perfect bubble in which to invest our hopes for perfection, it will have focused our immeasurable anxieties on a few relatively small-scale and achievable goals […]. It will have kept us out of greater trouble.”

The Meaning of Work

In a simplistic sense, work is meant to put food on the table, pay rent, pay bills, and make a living. In a more modern sense, work provides a sense of fulfillment. An activity you have the ability to provide a positive impact on the lives of others.

I attended a particularly memorable funeral in High School. Someone I admired passed, and it was impressive the individuals that came to pay their respects.

This was not just people who were friends and family, but people who had been affected by the work of this individual. Although the individual’s resume was not read, the effect of the resume was clear. The individual’s work had touched many lives, and this is our desired result.

Your work and your resume are only a platform to provide an impact on the lives of others. Whether you make quota this quarter or not is irrelevant. What is relevant, is the client in which you grew their business, or made their business better.

That same client who you’ve had dinner with their family, and built a meaningful relationship over time. You have become their trusted business partner.

This is the client who will be at your funeral. They won’t care that you made quota 3 years in a row. They remember the positive impact you had on their business.

The Meaning of Work as Seen in Different Professions

Alain De Botton shows many professions, from artists to entrepreneurs and how they work. De Botton allows you to see how an artist spends a year focusing on painting a tree. Determining what angle and shading are best to portray the effect of light.

This attention to detail and level of mastery will effect whoever purchases this painting. The recipient of this painting will not remember the insane hours dedicated to the capturing of this tree. What this artist has done, through the painstaking mastery of their craft, is provide someone with a piece of meaningful art.

This level of impact is what matters at a funeral, not the hours spent and the sale price.

I don’t know if work is to pass time or keep us out of trouble. I like to think there is more to the meaning of work.

This definition seems to be a way to avoid boredom, which there are less stressful ways to fill this void. What I do think, is that it’s an opportunity to provide value to those you come in contact with.

It does seem that life and work are intertwined. In a synopsis on life, in a Native American’s last words, Crowfoot states:

“What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It’s the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.”